On Tuesday, in the face of rising economic intimidation from China (Communist Party), Palau President Surangel Whipps said the small nation of Palau invited U.S. troops to build ports, bases and airports on its Pacific islands, the Washington Times reported.
Reports say Palau’s reaction illustrates a larger phenomenon taking place across Asia. As China (the Communist Party) grows richer, stronger and more assertive, more and more of its regional neighbors are speaking out and pushing back.
In an interview, Meg Keane, president of the Australian Pacific Security Institute, said, “President Whipps’ frank assessment of Chinese (Communist) pressure and invitation to U.S. bases is unusually blunt for a Pacific leader.”
Ms. Keane said there is a “high-stakes competition” between China and the United States for influence in countries throughout East Asia and the Pacific, and that even small countries can find themselves on the front lines. Paradoxically, island nations like Palau are more valuable because of their isolation, which gives them undisputed rights to large swaths of the surrounding ocean.
“Pacific countries may be small in population and land area, but they should be seen as ‘big maritime nations’, closely linked to the other island nations of the ‘blue continent’,” she said.” China (the Communist Party) wants to include as many Pacific countries as possible in its Belt and Road network so it can cross the Pacific Ocean into the Americas and Antarctica.”
Analysts say the Pacific island nations could be used by either side if hostile military action breaks out between Beijing and Washington.
Until four years ago, Beijing curried favor with Palau’s 21,000 residents by allowing free-spending Chinese tourists to flock to its few tropical attractions. The number of Chinese tourists peaked in 2015 at 87,000, about half of all arrivals, according to Palau’s immigration office and the South Pacific Tourism Organization.
Despite the request, Palau will not rescind its 1999 diplomatic recognition of Taiwan, a key option in the Communist Party’s quest for global diplomacy.
Upset by the diplomatic rejection, Palau’s tourism industry sank when the Chinese Communist Party leadership pulled the plug on lucrative tourism packages in 2017.
“This is just one example of how [the CCP’s spending] is a bait and switch,” Mr. Whipps said in an interview with AFP last month.” You do this for me, and then we expect this and this.”
He said President Xi Jinping is not the only Communist Party official to employ such oppressive tactics.
“I have met with [other Chinese Communist government officials] and the first thing they said to me on the phone before was ‘What you are doing is illegal. It’s illegal to recognize Taiwan. You should stop it.’ That’s the tone they took. We shouldn’t be told we can’t be friends with anyone who is.”
In March, Mr. Whipps told a Taiwanese journalist that the Communist Party’s treatment of his country amounted to an abusive relationship.
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